


Astra Inclinant, Sed Non Obligant (The Stars Incline Us, They Do Not Bind Us)

by lexus_grey



Category: Emerald City (TV 2016), The 100 (TV), Warehouse 13
Genre: Dubcon Spanking, F/F, Helena uses cocaine :(, Helena works for Langwidere, I've never written a fic where one of the characters DOESN'T like spanking so this is hard!!!, Myka is a blood addict, Shaw is Myka's FBI partner, vamp!Langwidere, vamp!Myka, vamp!Octavia, warning: graphic depictions of drug use
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-12
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-03 02:36:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10233821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lexus_grey/pseuds/lexus_grey
Summary: Langwidere, who goes only by Mistress L, is the owner of a seedy but very expensive blood den. She is very well respected and has worked her way to the top of society's elite. Myka Bering is a ridiculously wealthy blood addict with a special craving for a certain one of Mistress L's  girls. Helena Wells works for Mistress L and has an unhealthy addiction of her own, to cocaine. Raven Reyes is a feisty mechanic with a penchant for sleeping with women and never calling. When she shows up at a party with her friend Octavia, she meets Langwidere and she's hooked.





	1. Chapter One

Smoke filled the air, but Myka Bering didn't smell it. All she could smell was the overwhelming scent of her favorite denizen, sliced open and feeding someone somewhere in the den. Her fangs ached, venom swirling in her mouth and down her throat as she tried to control the hunger. She'd already been warned once by the owner that "such flagrant displays of possessive behavior toward someone she did not own" would not be tolerated, so in essence, Myka was on probation.

But Mistress L had had decades to curb her baser instincts and learn to control her urges into finely-tuned instruments of power and prestige. Myka had only had three years. She still felt starving most of the time. And that combined with the draw she felt to this girl... it was nearly impossible to behave. She was drooling venom now, the restraint she was employing almost physically painful.

And now she would have to _wait_. Or feed on someone less desirable.

Langwidere noticed the pacing vampire and made her way across the lobby. "Your self-restraint is duly noted and very much appreciated, Miss Bering. Would you care for an appetizer while you await your main course?"

"No, thank you," Myka said tightly, digging her fingernails into her palms as she continued pacing.

"Miss Bering," Langwidere said more sharply, "have a snack. It wouldn't do for you to bleed her dry when she's just finished feeding another client."

Myka knew she was right, but she didn't want to feed from anyone else. Helena's blood was fucking irreplaceable. "I'll be fine," she insisted.

Langwidere's eyes darkened. "If you harm her, I will personally slit your throat with my fingernails and remove your head from your body. I hope that's clear."

"Crystal," Myka said through clenched teeth.

The longer she had to wait, the more out of control she felt. Her pacing got more frenzied and she wound her hands in her hair, pulling at it to try to feel something other than pure, dripping _want_.

Just as she was about to burst through the doors to the back, she sent a little thank-you prayer skyward - yes, she was aware of the irony of that - because Helena finally emerged. Myka stopped herself from grabbing the woman by the arm and dragging her into a corner of the lobby. "Hi," she said instead, lamely.

"I would ask if you're ready but you're always ready, darling," Helena said in that captivating British accent that Myka came apart replaying in her mind when she touched herself.

Myka wanted to be away from the eyes of Mistress L, so she didn't answer, knowing Helena would take that for what it was and not be insulted.

"Of course, you and the boss lady don't get along," she teased, taking Myka's hand and leading her through the heavy double doors to the private area beyond.

When they were alone, Myka pushed her against the wall and inhaled sharply. "I can smell him all over you," she snarled.

"Not _all_ over me, darling," Helena drawled with a smirk. "You know I always save my throat for you."

Myka's pupils dilated, then contracted as she could no longer restrain herself and bit hard into the pale column of Helena's throat. She liked to feed right from the front, not the side, so she could feel every breath the human took. Helena didn't seem to mind, even though she had some nasty-looking scars from the one time Myka tore too much skin.

_After her hunger had been sated she apologized more than a dozen times, almost in tears, and Helena kept telling her it was okay._

_"I'm so sorry, Helena, really, I just--"_

_"Stop apologizing, darling. If I wanted to be like everyone else and fit into a certain mold I wouldn't be here. I like my scars, and I wouldn't let you near my throat if I cared about having it torn open. Now calm the **fuck** down," she concluded with a smile._

Helena groaned and tilted her head back, trying to edge them toward the sofa across the room. "Myka, darling, let's lie down, please?"

Myka sucked forcefully but moved as she was guided, crawling over Helena when she laid down.

Pleasure flooded her body as the sweet viscous liquid poured down her throat and heated her insides. Her mind was not idle; as she fed, the twisting, churning, desperate _addiction_ to this woman slowly began to be satisfied. It was as if each reckless swallow bathed a different part of the addiction - need, desire, control, connection - and the urge to suffocate herself in pools of Helena's blood became slowly less intense.

Though the flames were doused, so to speak, the deep-seated craving to possess and devour the pale, gasping woman beneath her would never be extinguished. She could drown in the sight, smell and feel of Helena Wells and not an instant would be less than blissful.

Apparently she _was_ drowning in the sight, smell and feel of Helena because suddenly she became aware of hands roughly shoving her.

"Jesus Christ, Myka!" Helena panted, the color drained from her face. She'd used all her strength to push the vampire off of her and it was hard to draw a full breath.

Myka swiped the back of her hand across her lips, intending to clean her face, but all she did was smear Helena's blood across her cheek. She said nothing. She couldn't speak yet; she was still too clouded. Every time she drank she needed time for the intoxicants in human blood to settle and retreat back past the blood-brain barrier they'd penetrated.

"Are you trying to fucking kill me? Bloody hell," Helena said weakly, barely able to reach over to the coffee table for a cloth to press to her still-bleeding throat.

When the bloodlust and confusion finally stopped swirling, Myka quickly moved to hold the cloth to Helena's throat for her. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. "You're just so mind-numbingly _decadent_." She moved from being on all fours over Helena to sitting beside her, and slid one arm under the woman's shoulders, cradling her as she helped stop the blood flow.

"Be that as it may," Helena said, leaning into the embrace, "if you can't stop when you should know to stop, I'll have to have an escort accompany us in the future. I don't think you want that, darling. You say things to me sometimes that would have you positively _banned_ from this den."

If it were physically possible for her to blush, Myka would have. She was, however, properly chastised, and looked away from Helena to hide her embarrassment.

"Perhaps you should stop trying to deny your addiction and come see me before it gets this out of hand," Helena suggested gently. "If you weren't starving you'd control yourself better. You know this, I know this, Mistress L knows this."

At the mention of the den's owner, Myka sighed. "You're right, of course. It's just so hard to be dependent on something. I fight it because it goes against everything I believed in as a human."

"Addiction and dependency are not things to be believed in or disbelieved. They simply _are_."

Myka sighed again, resisting - not for the first time - the urge to kiss Helena's forehead. "Is it good enough if I promise to try?"

"No," Helena said, slowly gaining back some strength the longer they rested and the less she bled. "If I don't see you back here in three days, I'll refuse to see you."

Myka almost cried out at that. "Please don't do that." The thought of Helena refusing to see her made her unbeating heart constrict. "I'll be back in three days," she promised.

Helena nodded, then closed her eyes and let Myka support her full weight while she finished recovering from the extra blood loss. If anyone else had done that to her they'd already be out on their asses, forbidden from returning. If Mistress L knew it had happened she wouldn't care that Helena had a soft spot for Myka - Myka would be forbidden to return.

"I've never lost control the way I do with you," Myka said quietly after a long while of silence.

Helena let out a soft moan of appreciation and carefully took the cloth away from her throat, fairly certain the wound had coagulated. She ran her fingertip gently over one side of that jagged scar Myka had left her with and sighed. "Well you're only three, aren't you?" she teased to cover up the swell of emotion the vampire's words evoked. "It was bound to happen sooner or later."

Already halfway lost in thought, Myka just nodded absently and murmured something like 'mhmm'. But they both knew that wasn't the case.

\--

As soon as Myka had left the building Helena headed home. Her job wasn't nearly as intense most of the time, but after feeding Myka she was always too tired to continue working. Or maybe that's what she told herself, but really once she'd been with that woman, no one else compared. No one else talked to her the way Myka did, treated her the way Myka did, wanted her the way Myka did... and especially respected her the way Myka did, even if she _was_ prone to fits of overindulgence.

Who could blame anyone else for overindulging? Helena certainly couldn't, that fact ringing in her ears as she unshouldered her bag and went straight for the coffee table in the living room where her oblivion was waiting. She always left a line or two ready when she went to work in the morning, knowing she would be too drained to be bothered when she got home. And she _needed_ her fix. While blood was Myka's vice, cocaine was hers.

She sank to her knees between the sofa and the table, picking up the hollowed-out shaft of a ballpoint pen that she'd destroyed earlier that week. She held her hair out of the way with one hand and snorted the fine white powder, inhaling sharply several times and tilting her head back with a long, drawn-out groan, pushing herself up onto the sofa where she could lay down, boneless.

She let her right arm hang off the edge of the sofa, one leg bent at the knee and the other stretched out barely on the cushions, and just let the feeling of numbness creep into her body and mind. She adored this sofa even though it was covered in rips, snags and stains. She could easily afford a new one, but it was the most comfortable thing she'd ever experienced in her entire life.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see stacks of dishes on the kitchen counter and clothes strewn everywhere in the living room, and she silently cursed them all, refusing to do anything about them tonight. She could barely move, let alone have the energy to clean. She would take the day off tomorrow and clean the house. Maybe. If she could be assed to get off this cloud.

\--

Myka had night shift this week and when she showed up to work after leaving the den, her partner's eyes went wide and she was shoved unceremoniously in front of a mirror.

"What the fuck, Bering? Were you in a brawl?" Shaw asked, blinking in surprise at the blood smeared across her partner's face.

"Jesus," Myka hissed, instantly angry at herself for forgetting to wash that off before work. "Give me a towel or something, would you?" She turned toward the corner to hide her face while Shaw, laughing, headed into the bathroom, presumably to get her some paper towels.

When her face was clean, she sighed, slumping down into her desk chair and shuffling through some paperwork as she tried to decide which case she should work on first.

"Um, hello? Brawl?" Shaw insisted.

"No," Myka groaned, hiding behind a case file.

"Then what the fuck happened to your face?"

"It's not my blood," Myka tried to explain, wincing at the lameness of admitting that. Why did she say that? Couldn't she say she ran into a door or something?

"Whose blood is it?"

"You're not willing to let this conversation go, by any chance...?"

Shaw nearly doubled over in forced laughter. "Fuck no. Whose blood is it?"

"It's just this girl that--"

Shaw straightened up, cutting her off exuberantly. "You had some chick's blood on your face?"

"Why do you sound so excited?"

"Because I've been your partner for three years and this is the first juicy piece of information I've ever learned about you. You know pretty much everything there is to know about me."

"That's because everything about you can fit in the palm of a baby's hand," Myka said wryly. "You're up front and uncomplicated. The only things that matter to you are this job and your girlfriend."

"True," Shaw agreed. "Right now she's probably wearing nothing but an apron, slaving over some incredible dessert that she's going to have waiting for me when I get home."

"Well the girl I bit won't be waiting for me at home," Myka said wistfully.

"Jesus, Bering, you _bit_ her? That's where the blood came from? How do you get away with shit like that?"

She smiled, briefly showing her fangs after making sure no one else was looking.

"Ahhhhh, got it. I didn't know they let vamps into law enforcement."

"They don't," Myka said with a frown. "Which makes no sense. We can see, hear and smell better than you. Why do you think our close rate is so much higher than anyone else's here? Besides being good at our jobs, obviously."

Shaw was stunned for a second, and then said, "huh."

"If you rat me out I'll tell Root you fucked me in the locker room, by the way," Myka said  
casually.

"She wouldn't believe you. And I'm not going to rat you out, asshole. You're the best partner I've had, and besides all that, I like the perks that come with having the highest close rate."

"Good, because you're kind of the only person I trust."

"Don't make me vomit."

\--

True to her word, Myka returned to Mistress L's three days later. Slightly hungry but nowhere near starving. Helena's scent still drove her crazy, but it was more of a quiet pulse than a pounding bass drum. Helena was in the lobby speaking to Mistress L when she walked in.

Noticing Myka, Helena couldn't help the grin that spread across her face that the vampire had kept her word. When she was excused from the conversation she made her way over and laid a hand on the vampire's arm. "Myka," she said, tugging her toward the back. "It's lovely to see you."

Myka was nervous and self-conscious. This was a terrible idea. Without the blinding need to consume overpowering her senses she was left with room for all manner of thoughts. When they were in their room - she was always brought to the same one - Helena reclined on the sofa and patted the space next to her.

"It's especially lovely to see you not in a frenzy."

Myka sat and looked away, hands folded in her lap. "I don't think you understand," she started, her voice catching. "If I'm not starving I can't make myself do it."

If that surprised Helena she didn't show it. "Myka, darling, look at me." When Myka looked, she continued. "That's part of my job. I'll help you through it." It was in no way part of her job.

Myka just shrugged, not sure what to do.

Helena turned and opened the drawer of the nightstand beside the sofa, drawing out her Swiss Army knife and opening one of the blades. She made a thin, shallow cut across the center of her throat, barely enough to bleed, and with a quiet moan she slid a hand around the back of Myka's neck and guided the vampire's mouth to the broken skin.

Myka gasped, a need pulsing through her that had nothing to do with hunger.

Helena held Myka's head against her, tightening her fist around a handful of dark hair. "That's it, darling," she whispered encouragingly. "Drink."

Myka was so close. _So_ close. "I can't," she said, wrenching free of Helena's grasp. "You still don't understand. For me, feeding has to be about survival. If I'm not crawling the walls with aching, gnawing hunger then this is about something entirely different. And I don't think you want three fingers buried in your cunt while I lick and suck at your throat," she said bitterly.

On the inside, Helena was spellbound. Her body burned and throbbed at the vampire's words. On the outside she forced a subtle smirk. "While I can't say the idea is ghastly, I do think it would be rather forward of you given that we've never even discussed holding hands." She tapped a finger to her lips in feigned thought. "Would they be your fingers or mine? I must admit I don't usually use three..."

Myka growled in frustration and turned for the door.

"Myka!" Helena was on her feet in an instant.

Myka stopped but didn't turn.

"I'm sorry. You can come back when you're ready to see me and I promise not to refuse to see you... no matter what state you're in. But the situation will require an escort, I hope you understand."

Myka breathed a sigh of relief. An escort was the least of her worries at this point. She turned back to look at Helena, every fiber in her body aching to be with her but knowing it wasn't allowed. She did close the distance between them, though, and whispered in Helena's ear. "I wish you were mine." And without waiting for a reaction, she left.

Helena stared at the door long after Myka had slammed it behind her, then flopped onto the sofa, running a hand over her face. "That's one of those things you say that would get you banned," she sighed. "Even if the feeling is mutual."

\--

"You look like shit. No, actually you look like what shit would consider shit."

Myka snarled at her. "I'm trying to stay away from the blood den."

"Uh, doesn't that mean you'll die? What the fuck, Bering?"

Myka snarled again. "I won't let it get that far, of _course_. I just hate being a slave to it."

"I don't know if you realize, but we're all slaves to our food. You're not unique in that category. If we don't eat, we die. If you don't drink, you die."

"Yes but when you eat a bowl of cereal does it drain the life out of someone else?"

"Obviously not. Unless it's Lucky Charms and that little leprechaun guy--"

"And when you eat a bowl of cereal do you practically orgasm?" Myka interrupted her.

"Depends on whether Root's under the table while I'm eating."

"Oh my God. Why do I even try?"

"Because deep down you're a masochist?"

That at least got a snort of amusement from the vampire. "I must be."

The phone rang and Shaw answered it. "Yeah." She hung up and turned back to Myka. "That was shit calling. He says to tell you he thinks you look like shit."

"I'll be sure to tell the director you think she sounds like a male version of a bodily function over the telephone."

\--

Helena was starting to get nervous. It was way past the time Myka usually came stalking into the den in a frenzy. Two days past, to be exact. She tried to tell herself that Myka had probably just ended up going somewhere else, but the nagging feeling that the vampire was starving herself kept poking at her.

Her fears were allayed and confirmed at the same time when the doors opened and an unconscious Myka was being carried inside by two women. She was over to them in a heartbeat. "What's wrong with her?" she asked, trying to sound casual but her voice betrayed her and broke more than once within the four-word sentence.

"You must be Helena," Shaw said with a grunt of effort as she tried to hand Myka over.

"Are you mad? I'm not a vampire, I can't hold her up by myself when she's out cold!"

Root snickered. "You owe me fifty bucks." She looked at Helena. "I bet her vampires don't feed from other vampires. I won." She smiled happily.

"Follow me," Helena said, clearly unhappy as she led them through the doors to the back. She continued on to her and Myka's usual room, motioning to the sofa. "Lay her down. What happened?"

"It seems our dear Miss Bering doesn't know the meaning of 'Jesus Christ, eat something before you waste away'," Root explained.

Shaw growled at her. "Stop making jokes."

"That wasn't a joke."

"So she's not injured, just starving?" Helena asked, reaching for the nightstand drawer and her Swiss Army knife again.

"Correct," Shaw confirmed.

"And who are you?" Helena asked as she made a cut on her wrist. It would be easiest to feed Myka from a source she could maneuver.

"I'm her partner."

Helena stopped breathing, stopped moving, stopped existing for the briefest of moments before she slid her cool mask back into place and held her wrist to Myka's mouth.

Root didn't miss a thing. "Not that kind of partner, sweetie," she whispered. "They're in the FBI."

Shaw gave one of those one-syllable laughs like "heh" and shook her head. "You thought I meant... no. One psychopath is enough for me, and Bering's too into this hot British chick that she gets to bite in the throat... Helena, I think her name is... yeah, she's too into Helena to even look at anyone else."

Helena blushed to the roots of her hair, glad she was facing the one of them in the room that was unconscious.

Root smacked her girlfriend with the back of her hand. "What she means to say, sweetie, is that you have nothing to worry about. Myka really likes you."

"Please stop," Helena squeaked. "You'll kill me." She tried to put all her focus in making sure enough blood was getting into Myka's mouth. She would have asked the two ladies to leave but for the fact that she had no idea how Myka would behave when she woke up.

When it seemed to be taking too long, Helena pulled her wrist away and made the cut bigger, then returned it to Myka's mouth.

Finally she saw the vampire's eyelids starting to flutter.

"It's working," she said, her voice flooded with relief.

Suddenly Myka's eyes flew open and the only things she was aware of were fresh, sweet blood pouring into her mouth and the muscle-wrenching pain throughout her entire body.

Helena's eyes widened when she saw how black Myka's were. She'd never seen Myka's eyes look like that, even when she was in a frenzy. "Myka?" she whispered.

Myka was vaguely aware of someone speaking, but her entire being was focused on the blood at her mouth, and her fangs sank in deep. She couldn't get enough.

Helena gasped when she felt Myka's fangs, but honestly she was just grateful the vampire was waking up. She looked over at the other two women in the room, who were both staring at her. "You two might have to help out some," she said. "Myka can be... insatiable at times."

"Yeah that's not happening," Shaw said, taking a step back.

"Sameen," Root scolded, rolling her eyes and rolling up her sleeve. "I'll help if you need it, sweetie," she said to Helena.

"I have to work with her every day. I'm not going to replay the memory of her drinking my blood every time I see her. You two have fun."

"Is she always this warm and fuzzy?" Helena asked Root.

"Funny enough, this is actually her at her warmest and fuzziest," Root replied.

Helena was about to respond when Myka grabbed her wrist and held it tightly while she shot upright on the sofa.

Myka was finally aware enough to at least know it was Helena's blood she was drinking. She had no idea how she got here, but she didn't care one way or another. She drank like she'd never had a drop of blood in her life. "I want to feel you," she murmured against the broken skin at her lips.

Helena wasn't sure what that meant, so she offered her throat.

Myka's hands went to the human's waist and fingertips dug sharply into her hip bones. "No," she said, grabbing the waistband of Helena's jeans on either side and trying to tug them down. "Your thighs. I want-- I need-- please," she gasped desperately.

Not sure what to say, Helena debated whether to allow it, and finally unbuttoned her pants.

Myka groaned and pushed them down as far as she could, which was around Helena's knees, then maneuvered Helena onto her back and crawled over her, dropping her head between the gasping woman's legs and biting hard into the soft, smooth flesh of her thigh. She groaned in appreciation, her mouth burning with the need to consume.

Shaw politely looked away and smacked Root in the back of the head when she didn't.

Root pouted and turned away with her arms crossed over her chest.

It was an entirely new sensation for Helena. She had never offered such an intimate part of herself to one of her clients. She threw her head back, writhing beneath the vampire not to get away, but simply from an inability to hold still because it felt so _good_.

When she started to get dizzy and a little too weak, she pushed at Myka's head. "That's enough," she said.

Myka was crazed by now and barely aware Helena was even speaking. But she felt the push and backed off, though it took every single ounce of self-control she had in her to do it.

Surprised but pleased, Helena grabbed a cloth from the table and held it to her thigh.

"I'm still hungry," Myka growled after a minute or two.

"Just wait awhile, darling, and you can have me again," Helena said fondly. "I promise. Just sit with me and wait."

Suddenly a pair of handcuffs landed on Helena's stomach. "In case you have to restrain her," Shaw teased.

Myka's head snapped toward the sound. "Shaw? What the hell are you doing here? And Root? What the hell is going on?"

"You're a fucking idiot, that's what's going on," Shaw snapped. "You passed out at your desk and wouldn't wake up. You're damn lucky Root drives like a banshee and came to help me get you the fuck out of the office before anyone else saw you like that."

Myka put her hands over her face.

Helena tossed the handcuffs back to Shaw. "Thank you both for bringing her here. I think we're okay now."

Shaw didn't need to be told twice, even if Root looked like she wanted to stay. She dragged her girlfriend out the door without another word.

When they were alone, Helena lightly touched Myka's arm. "They've gone." When Myka uncovered her face, she continued. "Turns out we wouldn't have needed an escort after all. Thank you, Myka, for stopping when I needed you to."

"Why are your pants down?" As soon as she asked the question her memory served her and she hid her face again. "Oh my God. I'm sorry. Do you want me to pull them up? Or-- I mean are you still bleeding?"

"It's all right, darling," Helena laughed softly. "You asked permission, remember?"

Myka felt like she was blushing even though it was impossible. But she was almost certain it was happening. There was no way to feel this level of humiliation without turning red.

"There must be something special about you," Helena continued, teasing now. "I've never dropped my pants for a client."

"Fuck off," Myka groaned, refusing to uncover her face.

Helena scooted closer. "Do you remember what you said before that?"

"No." Maybe she did.

"You said you wanted to feel me," Helena breathed. "What did you mean?"

"I don't know. I just wanted to feel you. Everything about you... surrounding me and holding the rest of the world at bay."

"And feeding from my thigh accomplished that?"

"Mildly."

"And what would moderately or extremely accomplish it?"

Myka slowly took her hands away from her face and gazed wistfully into Helena's eyes. "You know what would, Helena."

And then Helena said "do it" at the same time Myka said "I should go now".

The vampire blinked. "What?" She swore she could feel her heart pound.

"Do it," Helena repeated. "I'm tired of pretending it's not what I want. Bury three fingers in my cunt while you feed at my throat," she essentially begged, trying to get her pants all the way off.

Myka was staggered, and part of her thought she should refuse, should leave and give Helena time to think about whether it was something she really wanted or if it was just a heat of the moment decision. The stronger part of her knew that they'd been dancing around this for months. So she grabbed the waistband of Helena's underwear, dragging them down around her knees. "Are you wet?" she growled.

Helena blushed at the frank question, but nodded. "Yes."

Somewhere amidst the haze of arousal, Myka managed to smirk. "I'm not talking dirty, I just need to know so I don't hurt you," she purred, lowering her mouth to Helena's throat. She bit down just as her hand dropped between Helena's thighs and she pushed three fingers deep inside.

Helena cried out loudly, then quickly covered her mouth to keep quiet. If a bouncer came in now she'd be thrown out alongside Myka. "Bloody hell, Myka," she gasped through her splayed fingers. "God, yes."

Myka wasn't gentle. She moved her fingers at a demanding pace, and she could feel she was stretching the fragile human, but Helena wasn't complaining... and Myka loved that. She got off on that - knowing it probably hurt a little but not enough to be worth objecting to. She would never want to _damage_ Helena, but causing pain excited the more primal part of her. "You're really fucking wet," she murmured when she could take a moment's break from drinking. "And yes, now I'm talking dirty."

"I don't think you realize how much I've wanted you," Helena gasped, throwing her head back with another loud moan as Myka sped up her fingers. Her hips rocked, though she was confined by her jeans around her knees and Myka's body half on top of her. "Of course I'm fucking wet. You're practically a walking wet dream, darling."

Myka gave a particularly forceful thrust and reveled in Helena's whimper. "I wonder if your blood will change taste when you come," she hissed.

Myka was hurting her, but in that delicious way that blurred the lines between pleasure and pain. Her entire body throbbed with the need she felt to come apart. "You think you can make me come?" she challenged, breathless.

"You sound like you don't want to find out," Myka said darkly, slowing the pace of her fingers.

"Oh dear God, Myka, please don't stop..."

Myka smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile. "Apologize."

"I'm sorry,"Helena said desperately.

"No, I don't think so," Myka said thoughtfully.

When she felt the vampire start to withdraw her fingers, Helena let out a wordless whine and then apologized again. "I am, I'm sorry, it was a stupid thing to say and I never should've said it. Please, Myka, _please_ ," she begged.

Myka chewed her bottom lip, debating.

"Oh for God's fucking sake, _please_!" Helena raged, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

Myka clamped a hand over Helena's mouth as she relented and started pushing again. "Do you _want_ someone to come in and throw me out?"

Helena shook her head and placed a kiss to Myka's palm, trying to settle back in to the rhythm she had almost lost.

"Will you be quiet?"

Helena nodded.

Myka took her hand away from the woman's mouth so she could return to the delicious blood flowing from her throat. It only took a few more fierce thrusts to tear Helena apart. She could feel when it was about to happen, the anticipation, the threshhold being held and then crossed, and she could feel it when it happened, the human's muscles coiling and burning and shaking, then going completely slack.

She left her fingers inside while she finished drinking, and slowly withdrew them only when she needed to reach over and grab a cloth for Helena's wound. She pressed it gently to her skin, enjoying the view of the sultry little Brit sweaty and sated beneath her.

They stayed silent for awhile, until Helena's throat stopped bleeding, actually, and Myka tossed the cloth into the trash and pulled the girl to her feet, helping her fix up her jeans and panties.

Helena stood and let Myka fuss over dressing her, and when her clothes were in place she reached down to button and zip her jeans.

Myka took hold of Helena's elbow with her left hand and gave her a sharp smack on the ass with her right.

Helena jumped, eyes wide, hands instinctively going behind her to protect herself. "What was that for?"

"If you don't know what it was for, maybe I should do it again."

"That won't be necessary!" Helena said quickly. "I shall never make such an asinine remark during sex with you again."

"Out of curiosity, why _did_ you choose to question the prowess of a vampire during sex?" Myka asked, suddenly wanting to know.

"I don't know! I was caught up in the moment! It was whimsical! I thought it would be challengingly sexy! Christ, I want to fall into a black hole right now."

Despite herself, Myka laughed. "Well I suppose I could have chosen to view it as challengingly sexy instead of downright rude," she said pointedly.

Helena blushed to the roots of her hair. "Can we please talk about it, say, never again?"

Myka considered it. "If you let me smack you one more time, I swear on my honor as an undead citizen that I will never bring it up again."

Helena's jaw dropped. "But the one smack still hurts."

Myka shrugged. "Then I reserve the right to bring it up at will."

Helena huffed and turned around, taking her hands out of the way. "Bollocks," she muttered.

"Do you really not think it's deserved?" Myka asked.

"No!" Helena insisted. "I wasn't trying to be a jackass, I was trying to be enticing. I do not think that deserves one smack, let alone two."

Myka was a little surprised. "You mean you don't like it?"

"No! I think it's abusive," Helena said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Myka's eyes widened. She had already smacked her once. "You think it's abusive?" she breathed.

"No," Helena pouted. "I just don't want to get a smack." She realized something and deflated. "Now I'm probably going to get more than one. Shit. I didn't lie about not liking it, though. I don't like it," she continued trying to backpedal out of the mess she'd probably just made.

"Then why would you let me do it?" Myka asked, becoming more bewildered by the second.

"Well you didn't ask before the first one, did you?" Helena pointed out.

"That's true," Myka acknowledged, brows furrowed in thought. "I guess we both did things in the heat of the moment that we thought were challengingly sexy. I'm sorry, Helena. I won't do it again."

Helena turned to face her and sighed, stepping closer, uncrossing her arms to rest her hands on Myka's waist. "Here's the thing, Myka. I am enamored with you. I do not like to be spanked, but if you think I deserve it, I will endure it. I may not want a spanking, but I want to offend or hurt you even less, and I very much _do_ want to please you, in every way possible."

"I don't honestly think you deserve a spanking for anything you've said tonight," Myka told her, "but I'll hold you to that in the future."

"That sounds very fair," Helena agreed with another sigh, this one of relief. "You know, this is the longest conversation we've ever had. Usually you're starving to death, you feed, and then you're gone."

"Out of propriety, not by choice," Myka reminded her. "Your boss doesn't like me."

"You haven't exactly been a model client," Helena said with a quiet chuckle.

"Wait... back to the previous topic... you said you're enamored with me. What exactly do you mean by that? I feel like that's a term that hasn't been used since the 19th century."

Helena laughed softly. "Good night, Miss Bering."

Myka's mouth pulled up in a half smirk and she curtsied gracefully. "Good night, Miss Wells."

\--

Langwidere was in the middle of a conversation with a prospective client when she nearly choked on the smell of sex. She spun sharply to face Miss Bering, already knowing who that scent had come from and therefore who it would be emerging from the back.

Myka realized at the same moment Mistress L did that the other vampires - especially ones who had been around as long as Mistress L - would smell sex on her.

"Please--" Myka started to say, but the blonde's hand shot up to silence her.

"As I have said before, Miss Bering," she intoned dangerously, "if you harm her, I will personally slit your throat with my fingernails and remove your head from your body."

Shocked at not being immediately banned from the den, Myka simply nodded and made a hasty exit.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raven meets Langwidere; Myka and Helena run into a snag in their relationship but manage to work it out.

Music blared from an oversized speaker perched on top of a Craftsman work bench as Raven Reyes finished tuning up her best friend's cherry red Mustang convertible and handed over the keys.

"All right, Blake. She's all yours."

"What was wrong with her?" Octavia asked, sliding her hand over the hood, caressing her baby.

"Nothing," Raven snorted. "You just drive like shit."

Octavia stared at her. "You're kidding, right?"

"Uh, no. I just made a few tweaks so you'll stop getting pulled over for your muffler."

"Oh! Thanks for that." She smiled, fangs gleaming in the harsh fluorescent lights of the shop.

"Hey, speaking of your fangs, I keep forgetting to ask you every time you tell me you got pulled over again. Can't you just use your... vampiric charm or whatever they call it in the movies and get out of a ticket?"

"Ha!" Octavia laughed, hopping over the driver's door into her seat. "We don't actually have that."

"Then what's the evolutionary advantage of being a vampire?"

"Faster, stronger, smarter?" Octavia guessed with a shrug.

"You're not smarter than me," Raven scoffed.

"Okay then, how about faster, stronger, immortal."

"That makes more sense."

"Your ego is getting too big for the car so if you want a ride in my 'stang you better shrink that shit down."

"Why would I want a ride in your 'stang? I have a truck."

"Because there's a party tonight at the blood den I usually go to, and you'll look much cooler if you show up with me."

"I'm not looking to become someone's snack," Raven replied, flipping her the bird.

"Fuck you, Reyes, we don't just walk up to someone and bite them without asking."

"Why are you inviting me anyway? I'll be a little out of place."

Octavia shrugged. "Don't come."

Raven growled and hurdled the passenger door before Octavia could drive away.

\--

"Wow," Raven said as they pulled up and Octavia gave her keys to the valet. "Valet. Nice."

They both got out of the car. "Isn't it, though?" Octavia said with a grin, giving the guy a tip.

"Yeah. It doesn't really seem like an area of town that would have valet."

"It's not."

"All righty then."

"Don't judge a book by its cover."

"I don't."

"You know it costs $250 for one hour?"

"What the fuck! How do you afford that?"

"Well there are other dens that are like $25 but whenever I can afford it I come here. It's the best in the city."

“What makes it the best?”

Octavia shrugged. “I don't know,” she said with a laugh. "It just is. Now come on." She grabbed Raven by the arm and dragged her toward the door.

\--

Octavia introduced Raven around to a few friends, and about an hour into the party she felt an iron grip on her bicep.

"Who the fuck is _that_?" Raven hissed.

When her gaze followed Raven's and settled, her eyes went wide. "Raven, no," she said simply. "That is a no."

"Why? Who is it?"

Octavia whined, but knew that if she didn't give her friend the information, Raven would stupidly go talk to the woman herself. "That is the owner, Mistress L. Stay away from her."

" _Mistress_ L?" Raven asked with a snort. "What's her real name?"

Octavia shrugged. "Nobody knows."

"Why should I stay away from her? She looks fun."

"First of all, she is not fun. Like, at all. She will eat you for breakfast." Pause. "And I actually mean that figuratively."

Raven howled with laughter. "You worry too much."

"Oh my God, you've never listened to me before but please let this be the one time you do. You cannot fuck that woman and leave in the morning unscathed, I swear to you. This is not like any of the hundreds of other times you've fucked a girl and never called."

"You keep saying no, but you're not convincing me why," Raven said with a grin. "You know I can't resist a challenge."

"No! She's not a challenge. She's a vampire that's been around longer than any I've ever met, and she'd probably literally snap your neck if you say like... _any_ of the things you usually say to people."

Raven eyed the woman, taking in her regal appearance - deep burgundy dress that grazed the floor as she walked, with a corset-like bodice and decorated with what looked like flecks of gold; a mask that partially concealed her face, but showed enough to tell anyone that she was beautiful; long, perfectly-curled blonde hair pulled half up on top of her head and secured with very ornate hairpins; posture that would be envied by a monarch. "All that's missing is the crown," she said wryly.

"Yeah. She probably is vampire royalty, now that you mention it. Just stay away, okay?"

\--

"I expected to see you on the arm of Miss Bering," Langwidere said when she notcied Helena at the drinks table. "Or perhaps her fingers," she added scoldingly.

Helena tried to hide her disappointment, but she'd never been much good at that. "I don't think she's coming," she said, unable to look at her boss.

Langwidere frowned. She had never been much good at comforting. "May I offer you some amusing information in an attempt to lift your spirits?"

"That would be quite welcome, yes," Helena said eagerly.

"Miss Blake has been trying to warn her human friend off of me for the past twenty minutes, for some reason unaware that I can hear every word."

Helena bit her lip as she couldn't help laughing. "Oh my. Do you think she'll be successful?"

Langwidere pursed her lips. "No."

"Why not?"

"The human girl sees me as a challenge to be conquered."

"I pity her, then."

"So do I."

\--

The fact that Myka hadn't shown up two hours into the party hurt Helena's feelings and her pride. She slipped into the back when everyone was listening to one of the regulars make a speech about God-knew-what.

With a sigh she sank down onto one of the sofas in the staff room, then changed her mind and took her stash out of her bra, retreating to the bathroom's handicapped stall to cut a few lines and get wasted.

\--

The clock couldn't move fast enough for Myka. Finally it hit midnight and she was free! She changed quickly into a pair of tight jeans and a sexy blouse, touched up her makeup and headed to the den to meet Helena for the party she'd been invited to tonight.

After handing the valet her keys, she adjusted her high-heeled sandals to make sure she wasn't going to stumble or anything equally embarrassing, then made her way inside.  
Where she promptly knocked right into Helena who was apparently leaving on the arm of a vampire that made Myka's hair stand on end and sent a chill down her spine. "Helena?"

"Oh, Myka! How good of you to show up!" Helena drawled, a biting edge to her words. "You're only _three_ hours late. Remarkable!"

She tried to push past Myka to leave, but a firm grip on her bicep prevented it. "Helena, don't leave with her," Myka growled, eyes narrowed. "You won't make it until morning."

Selene was not what you would call a scrupulous feeder. Her body count was higher than a mob enforcer's.

"Sod off," Helena said pointedly, violently shaking off the grasp and moving out the doors with Selene. "I'm fine, obviously."

Panicking slightly, Myka searched the floor until she spotted Mistress L and frantically waved the other vampire over.

Langwidere sensed something amiss and hurried over when Myka summoned her. That would not be happening unless there was a problem. "Yes?"

"Helena's leaving with a vampire that's known for her body count," Myka said desperately. "She won't listen to me and I'm not strong enough yet to fight off Selene by myself..."

Langwidere blinked and was out the door in a flash. "HELENA WELLS!" she called, her voice booming across the parking lot. Luckily the girl hadn't gotten very far, moving as impaired as she was.

Helena froze and turned, a frown plastered on her face, eyebrows furrowed. "Mistress L?"

"Obviously," Langwidere said darkly. "Come back inside this instant."

Selene's fangs glinted in the moonlight as she bared them with a hiss. "Back off, lady."

"Yes," Helena said dreamily. "What she said." She swayed a bit on her feet, leaning into the dark-haired vamp.

Langwidere ignored Helena and focused on the threat, closing the distance between them with lightning speed and throwing the other vampire into the nearest car with barely an effort. "I suggest you find out who you're speaking to before you say something like that," she said, her voice low and calm. "My clan originates from the fabled city of Ev, and I am a direct descendant of its founder. You will also find me in alliance with the Mikaelsons of New Orleans, whom you have certainly heard of."

When Selene made no move to fight her, Langwidere was satisfied she'd gotten her point across.

"Never return to my establishment or your head will be removed and your body laid to flame." She now turned to Helena. "Go inside."

Somewhere in her intoxicated brain Helena registered that she had never heard her boss's voice so icy before, and with a long-suffering sigh she returned to the party.

Myka had been outside in case Mistress L needed backup, which she had highly doubted but didn't want to take any chances, and when Helena walked right past her back into the building, she scrunched up her face in frustration. "Helena!" she called, following her inside and taking her by the arm. "What the fuck is your problem?"

"Like I said," Helena reminded her, once again jerking out of Myka's grasp. "You're only three hours late."

Myka was having none of the brush off and easily dragged the human into the back and into their usual room.

When they were alone, she raised her voice. "You were about to leave with a vampire that was going to kill you, Helena!"

"So what?" Helena shouted back, tears in her eyes. "You didn't want me, so what do you care?"

"I what?" Myka asked, confused as hell. "What the fuck do you mean, I didn't want you?"

"If you wanted me you would've been here by... ten at the latest," Helena drawled.

"Helena! I was at work! I _TOLD_ you when I was going to be here!" Myka said incredulously.

That stopped Helena in her tracks and her jaw opened slightly. She stared for a few seconds and then said quietly, the fire gone from her attitude, "oh. I forgot."

"Jesus Christ!" Myka practically shrieked. "You forgot? And instead of calling me at work you decided to just think I was blowing you off, and go home with... Selene the Ripper?!"

Helena tried to put her hands in her pockets but she was wearing a dress, so...

"What exactly are you on, anyway?"

"None of your fucking business."

Myka's palm itched to slap her and she remembered the conversation they'd had a few days prior.

Helena seemed to sense something had changed. "I wore this dress for you," she said, staring at the floor, the ceiling, anywhere but at Myka.

"It's beautiful," Myka said, clenching and unclenching her fists. "You look breathtaking."

"Thank you. You look lovely yourself. Very lovely."

"Why would you leave with her?"

"I didn't know who she was."

"But how could you be so careless?"

"That's the cocaine, darling."

Myka nearly choked on the air she was inhaling. Decision now more than made, she took Helena by the arm again, then sat on the sofa and pulled the girl face down across her lap. The deep, rich purple skirt of her dress was bunched up around her waist in short order and Myka let her hand fall sharply on one bare ass cheek, not covered by the lacy thong Helena wore, and then quickly on the other cheek.

"No!" Helena protested, trying to get up, but if Myka didn't let her up, she wasn't going anywhere. "Fuck you, Miss Bering, you have no right!"

Myka exhaled sharply and spanked her twice more, turning her pale skin pink.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Helena shouted, grabbing the arm of the sofa and burying her face in the fabric. "This is fucking outrageous and I won't have it!"

"You scared the shit out of me," Myka growled, ignoring the demands and continuing to spank her, regardless of how much Helena squirmed and tried to get off her lap. She alternated cheeks, the sound echoing in the small room, and soon Helena's backside was bright red and hot to the touch.

Helena fought for all she was worth and finally when she couldn't take it anymore she went limp across Myka's lap and sobbed. "I'm sorry! I thought you didn't want me and I was devastated! Please, please don't spank me anymore, Myka, please..."

"That's your own damn fault for not paying attention when we had the conversation about what time I could get here!" Myka said, fighting the sting of her own tears. "Jesus Helena, that's not fair... do you know how I felt when I saw you leaving with someone else, and then how I felt when I saw who it was you were with?" Her hand continued to fall, blistering Helena's ass so she would think twice about putting herself in danger. Hopefully.

Helena cried brokenly, the fight gone out of her. It hurt so badly she couldn't believe Myka would punish her so harshly. But the more she was punished, the more she realized how frightened Myka must have been, and she thought about how she would have felt if Myka had been leaving with another woman, and her sobs tormented her for an entirely different reason. "Myka," she begged. "I'm so, so sorry."

Myka finally wound it down, ignoring the tears for the moment, then picked Helena off her lap and carried her to the corner, standing her in it. "You stand there and think about how grateful you should be that you'll see the sun rise in the morning," she said quietly, bitterly.

"Myka, no!" Helena gasped, her face soaked with tears.

"Do it!" Myka screamed, her fist going through the wall.

Helena sank to her knees in the corner, regretting everything about the day. How could she have been so stupid? Snorting up in the bathroom just because Myka was late to a party? How could she have forgotten that Myka didn't get off work until midnight? How could she have been so careless, grabbing the first vamp that showed any interest in her and throwing her safety out the window simply because she felt stood up? God, she was an idiot. And now Myka would want nothing to do with her.

Myka let her cry for a few minutes and then stood in the center of the room. "Come here."

Helena struggled to her feet and wiped her eyes, though it did nothing since she hadn't stopped crying, and walked to Myka, looking anywhere but at the vampire.

Myka grabbed her and wrapped her in a near-crushing embrace, burying her face in the woman's hair. "My addiction to you is not only to your blood," she whispered fiercely. "Do you still not understand how I feel?"

"I think my behind understands, but my brain is apparently slow to catch on," Helena replied, clinging to Myka. "Please forgive me." And then in a small voice, "please don't ever spank me again, Myka, please. Or send me to the corner. I can't take it."

Myka hugged her tight, continuing to breathe in the scent of her hair to make sure she was still there, still alive, still hers. "Then don't be a fucking idiot. I won't promise you not to do it again. I'd rather have you hate me and be alive."

"I don't hate you, Myka," Helena cried softly, still clinging. "I could never." After a few more minutes, spent in total silence, she sniffled and wiped her eyes again, still in Myka's embrace. "Are you... hungry?" she asked hesitantly.

"How long ago did you snort your intelligence up your nose?"

"Three and a half hours," Helena said sourly.

"I'll need at least eight before your blood is safe for me to drink," Myka informed her.

Helena's head snapped up and she put her hands on Myka's chest, pushing herself away so she could look up at her. "What?" she asked in alarm. "What do you mean, safe for you to drink?"

"It's a God damn good thing you told me," Myka said with a frustrated sigh. "Stimulants and vampires don't mix."

"In what way?" Helena pressed.

"In the way that if I drank from you right now I'd be dry heaving for the next two days. Call it nature's way of trying to even the balance between us."

\--

"Now do you believe me?" Octavia hissed into Raven's ear after they watched Mistress L throw another vampire into a car. Octavia was glad for the front walls of the den being thick windows, so that maybe Raven would finally get her point after what they'd just seen.

"I never said I didn't believe you," Raven said, but she wasn't looking at Octavia, nor was she looking afraid like Octavia had hoped. "I just don't care. She's fucking fascinating."

Langwidere decided to save Miss Blake the trouble of agonizing any further. She approached the pair of women and addressed Octavia first. "Miss Blake, may I impress upon you how grateful I am that you would try to save me from your friend's attempts to take me to bed and disappear in the morning." She turned to Raven. "And Miss Reyes, don't bother. I am not in the mood to indulge any simpering suitors tonight."

And with that, she turned to leave.

Octavia was dumbfounded, kicking herself for being so stupid. Of course Mistress L could hear everything they'd both said. Everything.

Raven grabbed the blonde's arm, pissed off. "I don't simper. And who made you God's gift?"

Langwidere chose not to break the human's fingers as she removed the offending touch and turned back to face Raven. "I assure you, God has nothing to do with my gifts."

"How did you know my last name, anyway?" Raven asked suddenly as the blonde turned to walk away again.

"You signed the guest list, did you not?"

"Along with about two hundred other people," Raven said smugly. "Maybe you think I'm more interesting than you wanna admit."

"Please, do not try my patience," Langwidere said, eyes slightly narrowed. "And please do not disrespect the English language in my establishment by using _slang_."

Raven blinked. "Are you for real?"

At that point Octavia body checked her away from Mistress L, throwing an apologetic glance over her shoulder to the den's owner. "If you get me banned from this den I will kill you."

Langwidere strode away, unamused, and headed for the back to check on Helena.

She found Helena with Miss Bering in their usual meeting room, both of them standing in the middle of it. "Has Miss Wells regained her senses?" she asked when they noticed her.

Helena blushed and turned away.

Langwidere raised an eyebrow.

Myka bit her lip, not sure how Mistress L was going to react. She opened her mouth to snitch on herself but chickened out and bit her lip instead, offering a quick "yeah."

The eyebrow rose higher and she simply stood waiting.

"She..." Helena couldn't say it either.

When Langwidere began tapping her foot impatiently, Myka broke down and blurted out what she'd done in one breath. "I put her over my knee and spanked her."

Langwidere put a hand to her heart, only half in jest. "How inappropriate," she said, tilting her head slightly. "But hopefully effective." She started to leave, but stopped and addressed Myka again. "Miss Bering, my opinion of you has risen marginally since the moment you put Helena's safety before your pride and sought my help to protect her."

Myka couldn't help squirming excitedly once Mistress L was gone. That would make things easier on her if she messed up again in the future. "Yes! I so scored a point with your boss."

Helena snorted with laughter, still embarrassed at the entire bloody fiasco, and on top of that hating that she couldn't feed Myka for another four or five hours. "Myka," she said after a moment, "I feel very badly about being indisposed. Will you stay until my blood is safe so you can feed before you go?"

"What will I do in the meantime?" Myka teased.

Helena pouted a little. "You could apologize for spanking me like I was an unruly child," she suggested.

"But I'm not sorry," Myka pointed out, tucking a lock of hair behind Helena's ear. "You deserved every single spank you got, Miss Wells."

Subdued, Helena leaned against Myka, resting her head on the vampire's shoulder. "But I don't like being spanked," she said in a small, quiet voice, one hand coming up to idly play with a button on Myka's blouse. "It hurts terribly and I don't think it's right, or fair."

"You're not supposed to like it," Myka explained softly. "If you were a girl who liked it, I'd explore that with you very, very differently. This was a punishment; a reminder that you're not invincible. You can say anything you want to me but I won't apologize, Helena. I'm not sorry."

"You're being very beastly," Helena whispered, but she sighed and dropped the subject. "There's a DVD player in the staff room," she suggested. "We could watch something."

\--

They settled on one of the sofas after choosing a movie, and Myka opened her legs so Helena could sit between them and lean back against her as she partially reclined against one end.

Helena sat and frowned at the renewed sensitivity to her sore backside, trying not to be obvious about squirming until she was comfortable. She leaned back into Myka, sighing contently at the feeling of warmth and safety she felt being enveloped in the vampire's strong arms. "This feels heavenly," she confessed.

Myka smiled and brought a hand up to stroke through Helena's gorgeous, silky hair. "Yes, it does," she agreed. "You know, it's not easy to scare a vampire, but you had me terrrified tonight."

Helena stiffened but Myka's fingers combing through her hair coaxed her back into relaxing. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice slightly choked up.

"I know," Myka said, squeezing her tighter and kissing the top of her head. "I love the way you smell."

After a few long minutes of internal debate, Helena sighed. "I suppose it's all right that my behind hurts... I suppose I deserved it," she said quietly, vulnerably.

"You did," Myka said back just as quietly, kissing the top of her head again. "It still hurts?"

"Yes it does," Helena said softly, appreciating the kisses.

Myka slid her hands down to draw circles on Helena's belly through the material of her dress. "Do you need me to rub it for you?" she whispered in the human's ear.

"I think that would be the only good thing about getting a damn spanking," Helena said, blushing.

"Poor baby," Myka murmured against the shell of her ear. Her hands moved to Helena's hips. "Pull up your dress for me, HG."

Helena flushed with arousal at the sensual touches and the way Myka spoke to her along with the nickname the vampire had never used. She pulled up the hem of her dress and draped it across her thighs.

"No, darling," Myka teased, using Helena's own term of endearment against her. "Pull up your dress so I can see your pretty little cunt."

Helena gasped, her jaw dropping, and a low moan forced its way out at the indecency of Myka's tongue. "Oh," she finally managed an answer, lifting her dress further until her lacy thong was once again revealed to Myka's gaze.

"Take those off," Myka purred in her ear, nibbling the lobe as she glanced down between Helena's legs from over her shoulder.

Breathing coming much more difficult than she would have liked, Helena dragged her panties down over her thighs, knees, ankles and let them drop to the floor. She bit her lip, feeling very exposed, and closed her eyes.

Myka moved one hand back to Helena's belly, resting softly there, and slid the other one between their bodies, finding her way beneath Helena's dress. "Lean back on me a little more so you can lift your hips," she directed, and when Helena complied she covered one stinging cheek with her palm and rubbed it gently.

"How do you do this to me, Myka?" Helena breathed.

"Do what?" Myka asked, slowly switching cheeks.

"Take me apart piece by piece within thirty seconds of touching me..."

"You take me apart as soon as I catch your scent or see your breathtaking face," Myka admitted, holding Helena loosely against her while she continued to rub her sore backside.

"Can you just rub it all night? That feels so nice," Helena said wistfully.

"Yes," Myka whispered back.

Surprised at that answer, Helena sighed. "I don't deserve that, though, do I?" she asked.

'No," Myka answered, kissing the shell of her ear. "But I'll do it anyway."

"Myka," Helena blushed.

Myka chuckled, but kept rubbing. "Can I make a confession?"

"Always."

"I'm not hungry. I only stayed because you invited me and I wanted to stay."

Helena gasped and turned her head to look up at Myka. "What?"

Myka shrugged the best she could with both hands occupied. "I told you, my addiction to you isn't just to your blood, Helena. Did you not believe me?"

Helena shook her head to try to clear her thoughts. "I suppose I just didn't consider the implications of the statement," she finally said.

"Do you want me to go?" Myka asked, the hand on Helena's belly starting to stroke up and down. "Are you just using me for my fangs?"

Helena gave an uninhibited snort of laughter before she could stop herself. "Yes, you've found me out," she said, feigning a scandal. "All right, my abs of steel can only hold me up for so long; I've got to sit back down," she finally said, lowering her ass back to the sofa, trapping Myka's hand - though it would be an easy escape.

"My best friend's mom used to do those workouts when I was in high school," Myka laughed.

"Were you much different as a human?" Helena suddenly asked.

"I was no different. Except for my diet," Myka said with a grin.

"So your confidence doesn't come from being a vampire?"

"No."

"You've always been gay?"

"You think turning into a vampire can make someone gay?"

"I should have prefaced that question by saying I'd changed subjects. I was just wondering if you've always been gay."

"Why would you wonder that?"

"Because I never thought I was gay until I met you. Now I'm certain I am," Helena grinned.

Myka laughed. "I just think gender is an irrelevant part of any equation."

"I like that way of looking at it."

Now it was Myka's turn to pry. "Have you always used cocaine?"

"Yes, since I exited the womb."

Myka let out a little shriek and nudged Helena with her shoulder. "Asshole! You know what I meant."

Helena's snark faded, replaced by a sadness Myka had not seen in her before. Not even when she was crying and apologizing earlier in the night.

"Since my daughter died."

Myka's jaw dropped. "What?" she asked quietly.

"I really don't want to talk about it but I thought you deserved an honest answer."

"Of course," Myka agreed with a nod, but she couldn't help the way her arm tightened around the woman.

"Is the subject of your turning off limits?"

"For tonight, yes. I don't like talking about it so if we're trying to stay on lighter terms, then yes."

"Fair enough," Helena agreed, lowering the hem of her dress back down as she suddenly felt very vulnerable. She leaned her head back on Myka's shoulder, though, not wanting her to think she was pulling away. "What safer waters shall we stray to?"

Myka took her other hand out from between them and wrapped it around Helena as well, squeezing her. "Hmm. You could tell me if you've ever thought about me when you're home, alone, in bed..." she suggested.

"How incredibly presumtuous of you,"Helena whispered, a shiver snaking up her spine.

"I said 'if'," Myka pointed out.

"I'm sure you know that I have," Helena admitted. "Have you thought about me?"

"First you have to tell me what exactly you thought about..."

"That's not very sporting. I won't tell if you don't."

The rich tones of soft laughter tumbled from Myka's lips and she kissed the shell of Helena's ear. "All right, Helena," she indulged the human. "Yes. I think about you whenever I touch myself."

Helena's breath caught, a flush spreading over her face and chest. "And how often is that?" she whispered.

"Often."

"How often?"

"Uh-uh. It's your turn," Myka refused with another kiss to Helena's ear.

"Well," Helena began, biting her lip, head still resting on Myka's shoulder, Myka's lips still at her ear, "the first time I saw you, I begged for Mistress L to send you to me. I knew she could hear me, she'd made it clear that she hears everything. Apparently I was in her good graces that day, because she brought you back to what I now consider our room."

"You sneaky little bitch," Myka said, surprised but pleasantly so.

"Then she told me you were waiting for me and I had to force myself to calm down so I wouldn't look like a teenager with a crush. I remember the way you looked at me when I walked in... I had to look down to make sure I was wearing clothes." Helena smirked.

"Well I had never seen anyone so ridiculously sexy," Myka defended herself.

"I decided right then to offer you my throat, which I'd never allowed anyone near. It was my way of having something special between us, even if you didn't know."

Myka hugged her tighter for that.

"The moment I felt your fangs on my skin I thought I was going to come undone. Nothing had ever compared to it, nor has anything compared since. As soon as you left I excused myself from working the rest of the day and went home, because I was quickly unraveling, I wanted you so badly."

Myka let out a quiet groan.

"I tried to shower you away, but that did nothing. I tried to snort you away... that made it worse. The only thing I could do was give in."

"You weave a very enticing tale, Miss Wells. You have me on the edge of my proverbial seat..."

"Finally I just took all my clothes off, because every fiber was driving me mad as they all scraped across my skin and I couldn't take it for another moment. I stripped the blankets off the bed and lay on the sheets, face down with my head buried into my favorite pillow, and the image of you assaulted my mind with such force it almost made me cry. I had never been so affected by anyone, I was drowning with want and throbbing _everywhere_ and I had to touch myself, Myka, I couldn't think of anything else."

Myka's pupils were blown, her mouth slightly open to help her breathe as she listened raptly.

"I ran my fingers over the bite marks on my throat and spiraled out of control from there. I remembered the way you felt, the way you smelled, the way you looked... I imagined you there on top of me, holding me down, pushing into me from behind, and I put my fingers inside myself, wishing they were yours as I fucked myself, alone, laid to waste across my cold satin sheets."

"Jesus Christ," Myka hissed, bringing one hand up to rub across her face as she shuddered out a breath.

"Did I forget to tell you I'm a writer?" Helena asked innocently.

Feeling at a distinct disadvantage prose-wise, Myka went for pure heat. "I'm holding you down in your fantasy while I fuck you from behind? How many fingers am I using? Am I so rough with you that I tear you apart, Helena? Do you beg me to let you come?"

Helena's eyes drifted closed and she focused on the feel of Myka behind her and the rough tones of the vampire's voice. "Yes, Myka," she answered.

"Yes to which? Tell me."

Helena whimpered softly, wishing Myka would touch her now. "That first time I fantasized, I was so keyed up that I don't even remember how many it was," she whined.

"And after that?"

"Two or three."

"And the rest of it?"

"Yes, Myka, I beg you to let me come... because you're so rough with me that I can't hold out for very long."

"Do I tear you apart, Helena?" Myka growled in her ear, fingernails digging into Helena's belly.

"Yes," Helena groaned. "You make me scream and cry and not know whether I should arch into you or away," she narrated. "It feels so good but it hurts when you're so rough. I can't walk the next day."

Myka nearly lost it, but she forced herself to continue. "And when you beg me... do I let you?"

"Sometimes," Helena gasped. "Sometimes you're in a mood and you make me wait... make me cry... and you won't let me touch myself so I just lie beneath you and keep begging..."

"Stop," Myka finally said. "I'll break this couch into pieces if you say another word."

Helena stopped talking and just breathed, forcing herself to inhale deeply and exhale slowly, trying to calm her racing heart and the throbbing pulse between her legs. But at the last second she couldn't resist pushing the boundaries and she whispered "yes, Myka."

Myka slid one hand up with lightning fast speed and wrapped up a fistful of black, silky hair in a punishing grip. Without words she pushed Helena from her lap and used the hold on her hair to force her onto her stomach.

"Please," Helena begged, unmindful that they were in the staff room and there was still a party going on in the front of the building.

Myka hiked up her dress for the second time that night and just barely stopped herself from laying a slap to Helena's thighs. She would have to watch that. She knelt between them instead, nudging them a little bit further apart with her knees. "You really want this, Helena? You want me to hold you down and tear you apart?" She felt she had to give the human a chance to stop her before it went too far.

"Yes," Helena moaned.

"Are you very fucking sure, Miss Wells, because I will not let you move an inch."

"I am very fucking sure, Miss Bering, I swear it," Helena promised, aching.

Myka took both of Helena's hands in one of hers and brought them above the human's head, pressing them into the arm of the sofa while her other hand sought wet heat and she roughly thrust two fingers inside, then three. She used her weight to hold Helena down, just able to have the presence of mind to make sure she didn't press too hard. She didn't want to hurt her, of course, just restrain her.

Helena struggled against the hold, and when she found herself effectively restrained, she couldn't help a soft moan. Had it been anyone else with her she might have panicked, but she trusted Myka implicitly and with her it felt amazing.

The vampire had her coming apart in minutes, gasping and trying to arch into her but unable to move.

"Please," she finally started begging.

"Please what?" Myka hissed, smoothly sliding in and out, memorizing every twitch of muscle she could feel beneath her.

"Oh," Helena whined, flexing her muscles, knowing Myka could feel it. "Please let me come, Myka, I'm so close..."

Myka didn't answer her for a few minutes, and then with a grin she swiped her thumb across Helena's clit and gave her permission. "Go ahead. Come."

Helena was about to cry with frustration when Myka gave her permission and touched her _there_ , and she unraveled with a scream.

Myka rode it out with her, rubbing her fingers back and forth inside the human, who began writhing as soon as she lifted some of her weight. She touched her calmly afterward, slowly sliding her fingers out, releasing Helena's hands to stroke her hair. When Helena's breathing regained some semblance of normalcy, she gave a little chuckle. "Every vampire in the building will have heard that."

Helena laughed and groaned. "I doubt there'll be any complaints."

"I almost smacked your thighs, you had me so worked up," Myka confessed after another minute.

Helena flipped over onto her back immediately and scowled.

Myka held her hands up for a second, placatingly, and then gathered the scowling woman into her arms. "I didn't do it, though. That should count for something."

Helena melted into the embrace and sighed. "I'm sorry I don't like it."

"Don't be sorry," Myka said, shaking her head.

"But you obviously like it very much, and--"

"That doesn't matter," Myka interrupted. "If you really and truly do not like it, I can control myself. It's an instinct, not a need."

Helena thought on it and finally nodded. "All right."

"Just please forgive me if I make a mistake in the heat of the moment?"

Helena turned onto her side in Myka's arms and rested one hand over the vampire's chest. "I will."

"Thank you."

\--

"How am I going to catch her interest, O?"

Octavia nearly whined. "You're not."

"Yes. I am."

"Has it occurred to you that maybe she's not interested because she doesn't want to be viewed as a conquest?"

"No. Everyone likes that."

"Everyone does not like that, Reyes."

"Well I'm not going to give up without at least trying, Blake."

"It's your funeral."


	3. Chapter Three

Langwidere looked up sharply at the knock on her office door. "Yes?"

"This arrived for you, Mistress L," one of her bouncers said, holding out a small package.

"Excuse me?"

He shrugged. "That is all the information I have."

"With whom did it arrrive?" she questioned, one eyebrow raised.

"With the postman, I would assume, Mistress L," he said, confused.

"Leave it on my desk and get out."

He set it down, nodded, and left.

When she was sure he was truly gone, Langwidere picked up the package and turned it over in her hands, inspecting it. It was in simple brown paper wrapping, her name Mistress L scrawled on one side. It obviously did not arrive with the postman; there was no address written on it. "Imbeciles," she muttered, using one fingernail to slice open the paper.

There was a small rectangular box beneath the wrapping. She opened the box and nearly dropped it. Staring back at her was the most fascinating diamond necklace she had ever laid eyes on.

There was a card beneath it, which she carefully extracted without harming the necklace. She knew without taking it to a jeweler that they were very real diamonds.

_Thanks for the killer party_   
_XOXO - Miss Reyes_

Langwidere just stared at the card, processing the information multiple times to make sure she was reading it right. That little tart that had accompanied Miss Blake was now sending her _gifts_?

She narrowed her eyes. She had no way to send it back. How clever.

She closed the box, then tucked it and the card into her top right desk drawer and went on with her day.

\--

Another such gift arrived the next morning, and then the next evening. Langwidere read the cards and tucked everything away in the same drawer. Finally she picked up the phone and after sifting through her address book, she dialed Octavia Blake.

"Yeah?"

"Miss Blake?"

Octavia froze, almost dropping the phone. "Mistress L?"

"Yes. Please have your dear friend Miss Reyes stop sending me gifts." And she hung up.

Octavia was going to murder Raven.

\--

When another gift came the following day, Langwidere was so angry she crushed the box in one hand, and was about to throw it into the trash when a familiar green glint caught her eye.

As she opened the crushed lid, her breath left her. She knew what this necklace was. She knew where it came from. She had in her possession the Blitzkropf Emerald... which had been housed in the Smithsonian Museum for the past seventy-four years.

She picked up the phone and dialed Octavia Blake.

"Yeah?"

"Is that how you always answer the phone, Miss Blake?"

Octavia froze again. "Oh God, Mistress L, I told her not to send you anything else, I--"

"Please send your dear friend Miss Reyes to see me." And she hung up.

Octavia was going to murder Raven. Again.

\--

"What the fuck did you send her?" Octavia yelled. "I told you to stop!"

"I sent her a necklace. Not much different than the other three. Why?"

"She wants to see you. I'm seriously pissed off, Raven."

"I'm intrigued, okay? Like genuinely intrigued. Please don't be pissed off."

"I am pissed off. Just go see her like she wants."

"What, now? I'm covered in grease."

"I don't care, Reyes! Get your ass out from under that car and go clean up the mess you made!"

"Why are you really pissed off?"

"Because there's a guy there named Lincoln that I'm ridiculously into and if you get me banned from the den I will never forgive you," Octavia finally blurted out.

Raven slid out from under the car. "Why didn't you tell me before? Jesus, O."

"Just go fix it."

"All right but I'm taking a five-minute shower first, non-negotiable."

\--

Raven was only slightly nervous as she was led back to Mistress L's office. When she was announced and the woman called for her to enter, she took a deep breath and opened the door, stepping in and closing it behind her.

"Miss Reyes," Langwidere said with narrowed eyes and a curt nod. "Have a seat."

"Uh, I'm good," Raven declined, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans. She didn't miss the Blitzkropf Emerald laid out on the desk. "So you like that one best, huh?"

"I do," Langwidere said. "Which makes me ever so curious as to where you obtained it."

"Some jewelry store," Raven said with a shrug.

"Would it be called the Smithsonian, by any chance?"

Raven's palms started to sweat inside her pockets. "Don't recall any stores by that name, no."

"Miss Reyes," Langwidere said, placing her hands on the desk and standing up. "How did you procure the Blitzkropf Emerald from the Smithsonian Museum?"

Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. "Huh?"

"I will have the police here in less than five minutes," Langwidere threatened, hand hovering over the receiver of her office phone.

"Fuck! Jesus! I stole it, okay? Are you happy now?"

" _Obviously_ you stole it," Langwidere said, fighting the urge to roll her eyes for the first time in centuries. "How?"

"I'm very good with computers. I hacked their security system."

Langwidere was undeniably impressed, but kept that fact carefully from her expression. "And you did all this to send me a gift. Why?"

Raven's legs didn't want to hold her anymore after the threat of being turned in, and she sank down into the previously offered chair with a shrug. "I like you?"

"You do not know me," Langwidere stated flatly. "I have been around for centuries, Miss Reyes. I am not easily wooed nor will I fall into bed with you over a few expensive gifts."

Raven actually blushed. "I get it. You're out of my league."

"You see me as a challenge to be conquered. I am neither a challenge nor shall I be conquered."

Raven brought a hand out of her pocket to run it over the back of her neck. "Message received, okay?"

Langwidere re-took her seat and softened her voice. "Did it ever occur to you, Miss Reyes, that I might have been used or bought in the past, and that if you 'liked' me, as you so elegantly put it, you could have simply swallowed your pride and told me so? Did it occur to you that perhaps I'm just a girl like any other girl, not worthy of your time and attention? Did it occur to you that being a centuries-old vampire does not automatically exclude me from having human feelings? That your brazen disregard for me as anything but a conquest may have hurt them?"

Raven was stunned, and for the first time in her life, her womanizing behavior made her ashamed of herself. "I'm sor--"

Langwidere smoothly interrupted her. "Goodbye, Miss Reyes." As Raven stood to leave, she added, "and please take the Blitzkropf Emerald with you."

\--

Raven blasted Halestorm's 'I'm Not an Angel' as she sat at her computer, hacking into the Pentagon just to feel powerful. She didn't do anything, just hacked in and then logged out. Then hacked in and logged out again, and again, until she decided what she wanted to say to Mistress L.

She opened her spiral notebook to a blank page and started scrawling an apology letter.

_Dear Mistress L,_   
_I know you probably don't want an apology, but I was really fucking listening--_

She ripped it out and started over.

_Dear Mistress L,_   
_I know you probably don't want an apology, but I was really listening to everything you said today, and you deserve an apology. So here it is: I'm sorry. You're right. I use women. I always have. My longest relationship was two days. I'm glad you didn't accept my gifts because you deserve better. I wish I could have the chance to get to know you, but I blew it and I get that. So please just accept my apology instead._

_Sincerely,_   
_Raven Reyes_

_P.S. If there IS any possible chance for me to get to know you, I promise to be respectful. A perfect lady. Well no, never that. Wow this is hard. I don't know if you have a cell phone, but here's my number. And if you know how to text, shoot me a text sometime._

She put her phone number on the bottom of the page, then tore it out of the notebook and folded it up, heading out of her room in search of an envelope.

\--

Langwidere stared at the letter long after she'd finished reading it, and then reread it and stared again. With a sheepish smile she went in search of Helena. She considered the woman a friend. She wasn't sure quite when that distinction had happened, but at some point apparently it had.

"Good evening, Mistress L," Helena greeted her boss.

"I need you to show me how to text," Langwidere said without preamble.

"Oh?"

"There is a business deal that I need to lock down, and they require me to text," she lied.

Helena smirked. "Of course."

Langwidere knew that the human knew she was lying, but she wasn't about to tell the truth to anyone, so she just watched as Helena showed her how to do it. It was actually quite simple and she didn't think she'd have any difficulty.

Now to get a cell phone.

\--

Days went by and Raven had pretty much given up hope that the blonde haunting her dreams would contact her. So she was a little surprised when she got a text from an unknown number. She usually ignored those, but a fluttering in her stomach and the fact that she'd given out her number to Mistress L combined to make her open it.

Her heart skipped a beat when she read it.

_What do you want to know about me?_

Her fingers fumbled with the keys as she typed her response, and she had to backspace more times than she could count while typing out one word.

 _Everything_.

A few minutes later she got a reply.

_I believe from my recent research that text messages have a character limit. Perhaps your first question should be less all-encompassing._

Raven laughed and tried to decide what to ask first. She wondered whether the vampire would tell her the thing she wanted to know most.

_What's your real name?_

She started to worry when her phone didn't buzz for the next few minutes. She was about to send 'nevermind' or something like that when her phone hadn't buzzed for fifteen minutes, but finally it buzzed and she jumped, nervously opening the message.

 _Langwidere_.

Barely able to contain her excitement she typed out about five responses and erased them all, wanting to make sure she didn't say too much.

_Wow, that's different. I've never heard it before. I like it._

A reply came quickly this time.

_Thank you. Please keep it between us. If anyone else finds out, I will know I can't trust you._

Raven frowned at that, but she deserved it.

_Can't say I'm really happy about that response but I get it. I won't tell anyone._

_I did not mean to offend._

_You didn't offend, really. More like slapped me in the face. Heh._

_I must say I am not familiar with the word heh._

_Oh, that's not a word. That was me laughing._

_I see._

Before she could respond, another text came through.

_Did you return the Blitzkropf Emerald?_

Raven glanced to where it sat on her desk.

_Uh.............. no._

_No?_

_I guess some part of me hoped you might change your mind about it someday. And I didn't want to be without it if that ever happened._

_Interesting._

_Why is that interesting? Did you change your mind about it?_

_Maybe._

_Oh?_

_I decided that it might not be so terrible to wear something that someone went to the trouble of stealing for me from a Federal facility._

\--

Helena walked by Mistress L's office and nearly fell over. Her boss was staring down at a cell phone and smiling.

She chose to keep her job and just kept walking. She was on her way to meet Myka, anyway. She couldn't help the smirk on her face as she slipped into their meeting room, though.

Myka's nostrils flared as she caught Helena's scent and when she looked up to see the smirk on the human's face she scowled. "What's funny? Do you know how long I've been waiting in here?"

Helena blinked and lost the smirk, stepping up to where Myka was sat on the sofa and crouching down in front of her. "I was only just informed you were here," she said, resting her chin on Myka's knees. "How long have you been here?"

When Myka looked at her cell phone, she quickly tucked it away. "Oh. Only five minutes. But it felt like forever. I'm starving. Sorry for being an asshole."

Helena laughed, standing up to undo her pants.

"What are you doing?" Myka asked, venom pooling on her tongue.

"Don't you prefer to feed from here?" Helena asked, running the backs of her fingers over her inner thigh.

The venom swirled and threatened to choke her. "Yes," she croaked hoarsely, staring at the body part in question as Helena's pants slid down around her ankles.

Helena kicked off her shoes and stepped out of her pants. She remembered not being able to maneuver very well last time with them halfway down. She sat on the other side of the sofa and reclined against the arm, letting her legs fall open, eyes darting briefly to the newest scar, the one Myka had made last time. It looked like a perfect bite mark since it had only been bitten once. There was no overlapping scar tissue to mar the image of Myka's teeth. "Myka?" she asked as the vampire's head descended between her legs.

"Hm?" Myka replied, baring her fangs, ready to strike.

"Can you use the other thigh from now on? I like the way this scar looks," Helena requested softly, stroking the mark.

Myka's jaw dropped, but she had no problem with the request, as surprising as it was. "Of course," she breathed, then sank her teeth into supple flesh and drank.

She drank, and drank, and drank, until Helena pushed her away. She could never get enough of this woman's blood; it was staggering. She sat up and wiped her mouth with her sleeve, eyes shining as she stared at the recovering human.

Helena managed the strength to grab a cloth and press it to her thigh. She really should start stopping Myka sooner. She didn't normally let herself get this drained. "You make my job so difficult," she whispered.

"What?" Myka asked, instantly alarmed, snapped out of her blissful state.

"Come," Helena motioned her closer, urging Myka to sit between her legs and lean back against her. When she had the vampire's compliance she ran her fingers through the wild, gorgeous locks of Myka's hair. "You captivate me in a way no one in my life ever has. Do you have any idea how difficult it is for me to let anyone else feed from me? You're all I think about; all I want. I shiver with revulsion until it's your fangs piercing my skin."

Myka was stunned speechless for a good minute or so, and finally she formed a coherent sentence with great effort. "I-- I'm sorry, I never meant to--"

"No, shh," Helena shook her head, continuing to stroke Myka's hair. "It's not your fault."

"Do you want me to find another den?" She almost couldn't even ask the question. She prayed the answer was no.

Helena instinctively pulled Myka's hair, not out of anger but out of a sudden need to keep her close. "Never," she breathed. "I just wish things were easier."

"I'm guessing you don't want to change lines of work?"

"I barely got this job; I'd hate to see myself try to find another."

"What if you had a vampire sugar mama and didn't have to work?" Myka asked nonchalantly.

"Aces," Helena teased. "Where can I find one?"

Myka bit her lip. "I know it sounded ridiculous but I was actually not kidding."

"Oh," Helena said, eyes wide. "Oh."

"It's stupid, I--"

"It's not stupid," Helena said. "I just don't know that I could handle being indebted to you. I want so much more from you than that..."

Despite her embarrassment, Myka smiled at that. "Oh?"

"Don't change the subject," Helena laughed. "Could you really afford to be my sugar mama?"

"I am a trust fund baby. The money's just sitting in an account, wasting away. It would look so much better with you laying in it."

"What would be expected of me in return?"

"No," Myka shook her head. "Nothing."

Helena wanted to take her up on it but somehow she knew it would end up ruining what they had together. "I can't," she finally exhaled through puffed out cheeks. "But you can buy me expensive gifts..."

Now Myka couldn't help laughing. "I can? Thank God. I was worried about that."

"I know. You're very transparent," Helena teased.

"I could stay like this all night," Myka suddenly sighed. "How long do you think we have before Mistress L comes calling and throws a fit?"

Helena ran her hands through Myka's hair, lifting up strands and letting them slip slowly through her fingers. "She won't. She's too busy texting some girl from the party like a teenager with her first crush," she smirked.

"I'll have to get the whole story some time. Right now I just want to lay here with you."

Helena was happy to oblige. "If you can stay here all night, we'll stay here all night," she whispered, wrapping her arms around Myka and resting her chin on the top of the vampire's head.

"You know... we still haven't seen each other outside of this place," Myka observed.

"Do you want to see me outside of this place?" Helena asked, holding her breath.

"Very much," Myka answered. "Can I take you to dinner, or a movie?"

"Dinner wouldn't be very fun for you," Helena said affectionately. "But I would love to go anywhere you wish to take me."

"What if I wanted to fly you to Paris for the weekend or take you backpacking in Mexico?"

Helena purred. "I would brush up on my French and Spanish."

Myka couldn't remember ever feeling so at ease and content with someone. "Let's do a movie."

"In the U.S.?" Helena grinned.

"Yes," Myka chuckled. "What time are you free tomorrow?"

"It's actually my day off." She chewed her bottom lip, staring nervously at the top of Myka's head. "We could spend tonight together and go in the afternoon tomorrow," she suggested, trying to sound like her entire world wouldn't crash down around her if Myka declined.

"I would love to," Myka said, hesitating on one point. "I have to ask, though... don't you usually--"

"I won't around you, I promise," Helena interrupted, already knowing what Myka was going to ask. "I won't ever do it when we're together."

"I'm sorry to even ask, I just-- I don't know, I'm sorry to ask," Myka said, flushing slightly. "I would love to spend the night with you tonight."

Helena beamed, squeezing the vampire tighter. "I understand why you asked; you don't need to be sorry, Myka."

"I feel like an asshole; it's none of my business."

"Anything that makes you uncomfortable is your business," Helena insisted. "Are you ready to go? I think that given Mistress L's distraction I can leave early."

"Mhmm," Myka murmured, hating to give up her comfortable position, but getting to her feet. "I'm ready."


End file.
